March 30, 2007

Cuba wants its medical degrees recognised

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Cuba may boast of amazing medical achievements but there is one “breakthrough” still being pursued – getting Malaysia to recognise its medical courses.
The Cuban Government has been awaiting the outcome of a survey by a Public Services Department team that visited Havana last April to evaluate four medical universities.
Cuban Ambassador Pedro Monzon Barata said that with the bilateral co-operation in the field of medicine and biotechnology on the upswing, Cuba’s medical programmes should get credence here.
“Maybe our hostels and facilities are not as presentable as they are here but in terms of the courses and healthcare system, we are very solid.
“Cuba has the best doctor-patient ratio in the world and about 50,000 of our health professionals are helping out in 73 poor countries,” he said, adding that thousands of students from all over the world have graduated or are studying medicine in Cuba.
Monzon Barata said although the medical courses were taught in Spanish, students were given a six-month intensive language course and this was good enough for them to handle the course.
“Most of the medical course books used in Cuba are in English.”
The envoy said his Government had, on two occasions, offered 100 medical scholarships to Malaysia but none had been taken up so far.
“A student here approached me recently for a scholarship and she is likely to be the first Malaysian to enrol for our medical course in September,” he added.
He said a Cuban scientist would arrive here next week to begin clinical trials on an anti-cancer vaccine.
“Cuban hepatitis B vaccines have been on sale here for the past two years,” he added.